The garrison town of Highcliff is on tenterhooks waiting for the return of the last British soldiers from war-torn Helmand.
Meanwhile, as one of the last remaining platoons prepare to leave its isolated post for the final time, 19-year-old Private Pete Lyons is taken hostage during the night. A patrol sent to rescue him finds itself in a bloody and disastrous fire-fight.
How was Private Lyons abducted from a heavily fortified command post? And why does the Army close tanks to disguise what happened during the mission to save him?
The bewildered wives and families of the dead are left craving answers. Their fight for justice is every bit as ugly as the one fought by their loved ones in the poppy fields of Afghanistan.
Their hopes lie with Coroner Jenny Cooper, who takes on the full might of the military to stop the truth being buried with the boy soldiers. But in a town filled with secrets and rumours, it's not only the Army that has something to hide. M. R. Hall is a screenwriter and producer and former criminal barrister, a profession he left due to a constitutional inability to prosecute. Educated at Hereford Cathedral School and Worcester College, Oxford, he lives in the Wye Valley in Monmouthshire with his wife, journalist Patricia Carswell, and two sons. Aside from writing, his main passion is the preservation and planting of woodland. In his spare moments, he is mostly to be found amongst trees. Also available in the double CWA Gold Dagger shortlisted Coroner Jenny Cooper series:The Coroner, The Disappeared, The Redeemed, The Flight, The Chosen Dead and short story The Innocent. Discover more at www.m-r-hall.com; facebook.com/MRHallAuthor; @MRHall_books
